However, even though Audrie won the physical prizes, the true winner is really TECHknitting blog, and the true prize is all of your thoughtful comments on what subjects interest you. Thank you all so much for taking the time to comment. I look forward to writing many posts based on your many excellent ideas.

Best, TK

PS: For those interested in methodology, the winner was selected randomly as follows: This blog is in a very old format, and it is not possible to add numbers to the comments. Therefore, the entire comments were cut-and-pasted into a Word document. Next, all comments were removed which were duplicates, and all comments were removed in which the commenter failed to leave a method of contact. This left a 138 page document. Word generates an automatic word count--for all the comments which were eligible for the drawing, there was a total of 34,010 words. Next, I went to Random.org and obtained a random number between 1 and 34,010. That number was 28532. The word corresponding to that number was found in Audrie's post, and that's how she was randomly selected as the winner. Congrats to Audrie, and thanks again to all who commented.

Friday, May 7, 2010

In the previous post, TECHknitting laid out some background considerations in designing and fitting knitwear. Today, we turn to the the most basic underlying consideration: what are the shape attributes of the body attempted to be fit?

Bodies come in all types and shapes. A quick walk through a crowd reveals tiny sausage-shaped humans in one glance, while the next glance reveals humans of such heroic height or girth that the ancients would have worshipedthemasgods.

Yet, despite the continuum underlying human shape and size, we're not going to get very far in the matter of designing or fitting knitwear unless we have some categories in our minds--unless we roughly group body types and attributes into a sort of shape-vocabulary.

If you search the internet for the term "body types," you will get lots of different classification systems. The one here is a sort of a hodgepodge of lots of different systems-a hodgepodge which may not pass muster with biomechanics or anatomists, but which experience shows has been useful in fitting knitting or sewing (or even just buying clothes!)

SHAPES

When "shape" is mentioned with regard to fitting clothes, what is most often meant is torso shape: the shape of the body from chest to hip. This is particularly true for hand-knits, as hand-knit pants are almost never made, and hand-knit skirts rarely. The torso shape is traditionally described by its measurements at three points: The chest/bust, the waist and the hip.

The chest or bust is measured at its widest point, often (but not always) at the nipple line. Likewise, the hip is measured at its widest point, and that point is often well below where the hip socket of your skeleton is. In other words, "hip measurement" is a polite euphemism for the diameter of your lower torso around the largest part of your rear end (buttocks). The waist is measured at the smallest point, often (but not always) very near the top of the belly-button (umbilicus). This waist measurement is often referred to as "natural waist," and this is to distinguish it from the "waist measurement" of a garment which starts (sweater bottom) or ends (pants top) or sits (dress waist) somewhere between your bust/chest and your hips, at a spot which fashion dictates, and which may or may not be your "natural waist."

These three torso measurements are really in the nature of raw data: surprisingly, measurements directly from the body aren't actually all-that-useful for constructing clothing, and this is because of the overlapping concepts of ease and fashion. The reason to take your body measurements, therefore, is not to determine what size garment you ought to next knit, but because the measurements are useful for determining your "shape." Your shape, in turn, has a lot to say about what items of clothing you will find well-fitting and attractive.

Torso shape is a limited metric, of course: bodies have so many more aspects than these basic three measurements. So, after we look at shape, we'll turn to some variables which occur across every shape, such as posture, shoulder build, waist length and the like.

Tubular

The tubular body shape (also called "rectangular") is the one that many children have: the chest, waist and hip measurements are substantially the same. Children are not the only ones with this shape, however. People of all ages and builds can also be described as "tubular" or "rectangular" if their three torso measurements are essentially the same, which means that the tubular figure can vary from the very slim to the compact and muscular. Limb shape (especially in children) is often correlated with the tubular shape: the arms and legs are often "straight," by which is meant that the fore-arms vs. upper arms do not vary greatly in diameter, nor do the calves vs. thighs. In other words, with the tubular shape, not only is the torso tubular, but often, the limbs are too.

Upward-cone

If the hip measurement is the largest, while the waist and chest/bust are smaller than the hip, but fairly close in size to one another, the shape is called the "upward cone." This shape is one many girls pass through: among their first body changes are a widening of the hips. When this widening precedes the bust development, or if developed bust is slim, this shape results. Many slim women, such as fashion models also fall into this category, although it's hard to tell because models are rarely photographed standing straight, arms at sides, legs together, directly facing the camera.

Another group often found in the upward-cones are lower-body athletes of both genders. A speed skater, bicycle racer or cross-country skier may have such strong legs and well-developed hip muscles that the upper body, by comparison, is narrower in the waist and the chest/bust.

Pear

Many people, and especially many women, have their largest measurement at the hip line. If this is accompanied by most of the weight being carried below the waist, this shape is called the "pear shape." The pear differs from the upward cone because the waist-bust differential is higher --bust relatively larger than with upward cone, and usually a substantial fraction of the hip measurement.

Apple

The apple shape is fairly ubiquitous: found in men and women as well as some children. In men or children, this shape is expressed with a larger measurement at waist than at chest or hip. In women, the waist or the bust may be the larger measurement, but the smaller is generally a very substantial fraction of the larger. In apples, the weight is distributed more-or-less evenly around the waistline.

With this shape, the largest of the three torso measurements is the chest or bust. The waist and hip are smaller than the chest, sometimes substantially so, with waist and hip very close in size to one another. Athletes are often of this shape, for example, swimmers, ballet dancers, weight lifters. The cone generally starts at the shoulder, which is another way of saying that wide, broad shoulders are often associated with the downward-cone shape.

Combination shapes: frame (build) differences within one person

Any of the basic shapes can be of any build: a pear can have a thin frame or a heavy one, for example. The thin-framed pear will have less overall girth than the heavy-framed one, and weigh less, but both have the same RELATIVE measurements--larger in the hip than elsewhere, bust a significant fraction of hip size, waist smaller. However, it is not uncommon to see a combination shape where the build of the frame differs above and below the waist. This is called a "frame-difference" and is generally diagnosed by comparing wrist and ankle measurements.

Why measure wrist and ankle? Well, your "frame" (skeleton) may not be internally consistent. The frame is easiest to measure where it comes closest to the skin, and this means the wrist and the ankle. Obviously, the wrist will always be thinner than the ankle, but when a relatively thin ankle is paired with a relatively thick wrist, this generally translates to a slim leg and hip paired with a heavier build in the upper body. The shape of a person built heavier above the waist than below tends to shade off into the downward-facing cone, and truthfully, the two shapes do not differ much, except that the transition between the chest/bust and the hip is more abrupt when a frame difference exists.

The upshot is that frame differences most often accentuate one of the basic shapes: a super-pear, for example, or a super-cone.

An ankle-wrist discrepancy is the most common diagnostic tool, but there are others: because frame differences are actually fairly common, ready-to-wear clothiers have taken this into account. Many suits for men and women can now be bought as separates, as can two-piece bathing suits for women.If you've been availing yourself of this option, then you probably already know that you have a frame-difference.

ATTRIBUTES REGARDLESS OF SHAPE

So far, we've looked at some basic shapes: tubular, the two cones, pears, apples, hourglasses, as well as combo shapes. Now we're going to look at some physical attributes which can occur in ANY shape, and these attributes are often as important to fit as the shape itself.

Long-waisted and short-waisted

A common variable in fitting knitwear relates to the length of the waist. A long-waisted figure features a long stretch of torso of the same diameter, stretching from just below the bust, down to where the hips flare. In a short-waisted figure, the narrowest part of the torso may be only an inch or two long, as the hip flare begins closer to the bottom of the bustline. A long-waisted person might technically have the same bust/waist/hip measurements as a short-waisted person, but, because the waist is not the same length, a style suitable to one might not suit the other. Generally speaking, long waisted people are tall, while short-waited people are short, but this is not always the case--there are tall people who are short-waisted, although the reverse (a long-waisted short person) is rare, there being little height for a long stretch of waist.

Back/Front differentials

As a result of aging or birth condition or injury, some people have a stoop in their backs. A pronounced stoop may make the back actually longer than the front. As a result of pregnancy or a prominent "beer belly" some people may have a significant curve in the abdomen. A significant abdomen-curve may make the front actually longer than the back. These attributes are usually superimposed on one of the above shapes: a pear-shaped person who is pregnant, for example, or an older person of tubular shape with a stoop.

Shoulders: shape and posture

"Normal square shoulders"

In illustration above, we have a "square" set of shoulders of "normal" posture. As seen from the back, the shoulders describe a rectangle with a rise towards the neck--if you've knit a sweater in pieces or home-sewn a garment, you'll recognize that rising rectangle as the shape of the top of the garment back. Because these shoulders are essentially rectangular, this shape is called a "square" shoulder.

Seen from the side, the shoulder does not tilt, by which is meant that shoulder is held neither forward nor back, but in a neutral position between these two. One common way to see shoulder alignment is to examine the tilt of the chin: if the chin points slightly down, the shoulder is most probably in this neutral position.

The neutral shoulder position paired with a "square" shoulder is the basis for much patternmaking, and that's why it's considered "normal." In fact, if you see someone whose shoulders actually look like this, you'd probably say to yourself "my, that person stands straight." In other words, even though this is the standard shoulder assumption for patternmaking, it isn't necessarily the way many people stand, so the "normal square shoulder" may very well be the exception rather than the rule.

b. Round shoulders due to posture.

There are two types of "round" shoulders. The first stems from posture. Illustration b actually shows the identical person as illustration a, but in illustration b, this person is standing slumped over, shoulders forward, chin pointing up. The measurements and shape of the body obviously hasn't changed between illustrations a and b, but the posture makes the body look very different.

Posture is important to design and fit: clothes that show off the bust would be a mismatch to a person who habitually stands so that the bust is hardly visible. In other words, although these two shapes are identical, and have the identical measurments, posture makes a vast deal of difference in fitting and pattern selection or design.

c. Round shoulders not due to posture.

The second kind of round shoulders are shoulders which, although held in the neutral position, appears round from the back. In other words, this kind of round shoulder is not a function of posture. This sort of rounded shoulder is common in men and women, especially of the apple type shape; also women of the hourglass shape. However, it can appear with any of the basic shapes.

d. Triangle shoulders.

When the body has a thick wedge of muscle over the collarbone, this raises the top of the shoulder rectangle so high that the upward rise becomes a triangle. Such heavy muculature is often accompanied by shoulders being held in the back position (the classic "shoulders back, chest out!" posture so beloved of gym teachers) and so that the chin usually points out straight, rather than up (as with slumping) or down (shoulders held in the neutral position). The figure is illustrated with arms crossed because this is a typical posture adopted to counterbalance the weight often put on the heels by the backward shoulder slant.

e. Shoulder width.

Shoulder width is a very important consideration in choosing a sweater style. Many body types are highly correlated with shoulder size (downward-cone, for example, often has wide shoulders) but sometimes shoulder width is an independent variable (one which can pop up with any body shape). If your shoulders are unusually broad or narrow for your torso measurements, you probably know that about yourself by now, because ready-to-wear garments do not fit properly in the shoulder area.

It is my opinion that shoulder width, shape and posture and the related choice of shoulder styles in sweaters is among the most important make-or break aspects of fit, as important, or even more important that figure shape.

Temporary shapes and situations

Pregnant women are a common temporary shape, as are folks whose shape has been altered due to a medical intervention--a broken limb in a cast, or a breast removed surgically, for example. Folks suffering hairlessness from chemotherapy are also in this category--losing hair alters the shape of the head. Knit garments really shine in these situations being both stretchy and capable of being custom-fitted.

Continuum

If we drew a scattergraph of human shape distribution, there would be clumps of dots around each of the body shapes described above. But there would also be lots of dots not near these shapes. In other words, lots of people don't match these descriptions, and lots of these shapes shade off into one another.

For example, even the hourglass-that most distinctive of shapes--can shade off into other shapes. A short-waisted hourglass, especially when paired with rounded shoulders, looks an awful lot like an apple, the narrow waist being hidden by the bust above and the hip below.

For another example: is the figure drawn below a pear? An hourglass? Long-waisted, or short-? Upward-cone? Downward-cone? Maybe even wide-shouldered tubular? It would take some careful work with the tape measure to answer that question. These examples show the limitation of the shape-classification.

Of course, the closer is your dot on the graph to the pure type of any of these shapes, the more useful you will find the system, but the point really isn't to pigeonhole every person, nor could it be. Really, this is only a sort of a basic shape-vocabulary to make talking about fitting knitwear easier.

Knitting and fitting

The wonderful thing about knitting is that any shape at all can be accommodated very readily, and a good deal of this flexibility comes from knitting's stretchy nature. However, it is not necessary to rely only on stretch. Knit garments come in many traditional shapes and new shapes are being invented all the time.

Future topics in this series will lay out some of the different shapes knitted garments generally come in, and consider which garment shapes might be most advantageously paired with which body shape and features.

'til next time (and it might be a serious while... lots of non-knitting type things to do!)

TK

PS: Grumperina notes in the comments a very similar series now ongoing on a different knitting blog called "Stash, Knit, Repeat." The other series is illustrated with photos, so if you find photos handier or easier to understand than drawings, head on over and check it out.

Frankly, without so many comments, I could never have summoned the gall to tackle so vast a subject. Yet the level of frustration and curiosity about this topic evidently runs high. So, with a big gulp, TECHknitting blog is heading into a series about designing knitwear/knitting garments which fit.

Today: some background considerations. Future posts will go into further detail. The series will end by laying out some resources and tricks to refine the process.

The complexity at the heart of knitwear design: textile creation meets patternmaking

The reason for all this complexity is not far to seek: a successful knit garment requires:

that a fabric be created (out of string!!)

which is attractive in itself (textures? colors?)

which is successfully garment-shaped (all the requisite parts: arms, front, back, all fitting together smoothly)

which fits in the desired manner (shoulder style suits the body, neck line reveals or covers what is wanted and no more, arms of correct length and diameter, length correct to reveal or cover desired assets, front style as desired: cardigan, placket, pullover)

that the fabric created suit the garment being made, and

the whole must be infused with a certain style (cool? warm? high fashion? traditional peasant wear? form-fitting? Channel?)

When we add that the garment should be hand-knit, we up the already-complex equation by another order of magnitude. The fabric created from string is not going to be created by an infallible machine, featuring uniform stitches created by needles immovably set a fixed distance apart. No!

When we hand knit, we now add the requirement that the fabric be created stitch by stitch, with a pair of sticks! Aaaaand ... these sticks are going to be held by a human being--a person who, over the course of the knitting will cycle through the entire human range--relaxed, angry, tired, enthusiastic, distracted, neglectful and passionate. Not to mention, that the garment being knit must be customized to fit one person. And finally, the whole effort is a one-time shot: this garment must work right the first time, no do-overs are planned. Translated into technical terms, all this means that the fabric, size and style must be of such a nature as to allow for significant variation, yet result in a successful garment.

In sum, the complexity at the heart of hand knitting is that we are not only making fabric by hand with all the variability that entails, but, at the same time, we are making a garment. So we have to consider not only the fabric itself (color, texture) but at the very same time, we have also to consider the garment shape and all the baggage that goes with that (fit, fashion, function). And of course, the fabric and garment shape must complement one another.

Putting all this together is a pretty tall order, no? (And an especially tall order to consider over the course of a few posts in a on-line knitting blog!) Nevertheless, we're going to take a shot at untangling some of this complexity: In this series we'll start at the beginning, by looking at some body types. We'll next name the different knit garment shapes and consider their pros and cons for each body type. We'll also consider the fundamentals of fabric creation and the balancing act between garment shaping and fabric creation. The series will wind up with a series of resources and tricks you can use to make knitwear which fits and flatters.

Thursday, May 6, 2010

TECHknitting is currently running a poll (with prizes!!) asking you, dear readers, to say what posts and subjects you might like to see in the future.

One comment coming through loud and clear is a measure of frustration at searching for posts on specific subjects.

There are several ways to search TECHknitting blog. One way is to make use of the several indexes in the right column ---->

However, there is a faster, easier way to search this, or any other blog or website: you can harness the power of the Google search engine to do the heavy lifting for you. Here's how in 5 easy steps.

1. (above) Go to the Google home page and enter the term you want to search. In this case, I've entered "TECHknitting," but this will work with any other website also. Click where it says "search."

2. (above) After you've gotten your search result, you will notice a little link which says "more results from blogspot.com." Click that link.

3. (above) when you click the "more results" link, the window will change and the Google search engine will fill in the search window for you with a "site:" prefix, followed by the site name, as shown.

4. (above) Add the text you want to search the site for. In this case, the search term entered is "stripes." As you will note, there was a colon typed before the search term. However, this is punctiliousness: it works equally well without typing the colon. After adding the search term, click "search" and Google will search the site (and only the site) for the term you've specified.

5. (above) After clicking, Google will open a new window filled with the search results. Every post on the searched site will show. In this example, all posts on TECHknitting blog about stripes have been found. You can now scroll and click to your final destination.

Admittedly, this is a blunt instrument for finding content on a particular site. However crude is is, though, it goes so fast that you can do a dozen site searches in the time it takes to scroll though a conventional index.

Monday, May 3, 2010

A few weeks ago, TECHknitting blog launched a post called: A poll with a chance at a prize. The poll asks you, dear readers, to indicate a subject you might like to see covered in a future TECHknitting post. As a "thank-you" for taking the time to comment, each commenter's name will be entered in a drawing for a prize. The original prize was to be a gift certificate for $20.00 to a yarn shop of your choice.

If you have already commented on the poll post, your name is automatically entered for this addition to the prize to be given away. If you have not yet commented, there is still time, the poll runs until May 15, 2010--the comments will be closed at midnight central (Chicago) time.

So, click on over the the Poll/Prize post and leave a comment, if you haven't already.

I am really enjoying reading everyone's comments, and storing up lots of new ideas for future posts. And, many thanks to Paradise Fibers for this generous addition to the prize.

The fine print:

1. One lucky commenter will have their name drawn for the $20 prize AND the Addi Clicks set (there will be only one prize: winner takes all).

2. The Addi Clicks set will be brand new, except that I will have opened it just to look and admire before it is sent it away to its lucky new owner. If you live outside of the USA, I will happily send you the set and the gift certificate, but customs duty (if any) will have to be your responsibility.

3. The winner will be chosen by random drawing, and posted publicly.

4. Please remember to leave a way to get in touch with you as part of your comment, if you want to qualify for the drawing.

5. All comments have to be left on the original post--the comments for this post are disabled, and only comments on the original post will be part of the drawing.

6. THANK YOU ALL VERY MUCH for considering what topics might interest you for the future. It will not be possible to cover all the ideas given, but what a gold mine of information to find out what subjects you would find interesting--I really appreciate it.